Monday, August 27, 2018
And we are fully staffed!
I am very pleased to announce that we have hired both a half-time agrisciences teacher and an agrisciences technical assistant! I will be announcing their names and introducing them to you in the next few days, so watch this space!
Thursday, August 23, 2018
Opportunities and Optimism
2018-19 will be a year of changes
New Staff
Along with administrative changes at both Vicksburg Schools and KRESA, our own agrisciences department is undergoing some personnel changes. I have been teaching Veterinary Science and occasionally Animal Technology for many years, and this year I will be teaching full time here at VHS. My classes will continue to include Vet Science and Animal Tech, and I will also have Horticulture and Wildlife/Natural Resources this year.
In addition, we will have a new half-time teacher leading the morning Animal Tech class and the 3rd hour Animal Science, and a new departmental Technical Assistant, Laura Hayman. I will get biographical info posted for both as soon as possible!
New Opportunities
We have been offered an unprecedented opportunity in this department to work with the ongoing Mill Redevelopment project! We have some outstanding projects for collaboration, and the ability to perform lasting, hands-on work should give additional meaning to the curriculum.
Pollinator Habitat
Right away at the beginning of the school year, we will be utilizing the pollinator habitat that is already in glorious bloom. Since this site is withing walking distance, students in all of the classes can get a first-hand look at pollinators in action, and learn to appreciate their vital importance. This site is home to both domestic (European) honeybees and native bee and pollinator species such as butterflies. The diversity is vitally important, so that crops and food plants are pollinated even if one species does not thrive.
Buckwheat growing in the pollinator habitat at The Mill. The shorter plants in front show evidence of early deer damage, but there is enough to go around!
These plants are teeming with life! Look closely!
A worker gathering pollen, and in the process, carrying it to other plants as well as providing the materials needed to make honey.
Hives courtesy of Willis Farms Pure Honey house the honeybees.
The hive entrance (bottom right) is a busy place. The bees showed no interest in us; they are far too busy making buckwheat honey!
The southern part of the field is planted to safflower. This is not blooming yet, but will provide a profusion of gorgeous flowers, then birdseed, before frost.
In addition, Horticulture students will be applying this information to better understand the process of pollination. They will also have the chance to harvest the safflowers planted there for sale as cut flowers, either fresh or dried. This may evolve into an ongoing project if a student has the interest.
Food Forest
We will also be carrying out an ongoing project to plant and maintain a "Food Forest" on the Mill property. This will include plantings of fruit and nut trees and various berry bushes around the edges of some of the open areas. We intend to focus upon native and heirloom varieties, and to use this project as a framework to cover the required elements of the horticulture curriculum.
Students will first map the site, then perform soil testing at several points to determine whether the soil will need to be amended, and if there are some locations better than others for given plants. They will then research varieties appropriate for planting, source the stock, plant and maintain it. They are likely to be grafting, pruning, designing integrated pest management systems, and managing watering as well.
This year, we plan to focus on apple and pear trees. Each subsequent year we will maintain the previously planted areas and add more variety to the plantings. The goal is for the public to be able to experience some unusual native varieties of fruit and nuts, and to provide any harvest to the community and to local food banks. Thus this aspect of the project will be ongoing indefinitely, and allow students to return to visit the product of their learning for years to come.
Stay Tuned!
I hope to update this blog at least weekly, and more frequently as things occur. Please check back often and keep up with our projects!
Links
And if you want to look back on what some Veterinary Science students did over the summer, check out our blog on our trip to South Africa to work with wildlife!
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